Week 5 was a get-right week for me after a disappointing Week 4 showing. Even though I went 12-4, it wasn’t good enough to win the week as Christen went 13-2 and didn’t even pick the Thursday game. Here’s a look at the overall standings:
| Nick Ws | Nick Ls | Spread W | Spread L | Spread Push | O/U Ws | O/U Ls | Christen Ws | Christen Ls | |||
| 12 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 2 | |||
| Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | Previous | |||
| 39 | 25 | 31 | 33 | 0 | 29 | 35 | 33 | 30 | |||
| OVR Ws | OVR Ls | OVR Ws | OVR Ls | OVR Push | OVR Ws | OVR Ls | OVR Ws | OVR Ls | |||
| 51 | 29 | 43 | 36 | 1 | 36 | 44 | 46 | 32 |
There were some crazy games this week and one of those provided us with another wild Monday night finish as the Baltimore Ravens found a way to beat the Colts 31-25 in overtime. It was 10-3 Colts at halftime and they started the second half with a touchdown but missed the extra point. Trying to respond, Lamar Jackson fumbled on the doorstep of the endzone and Indy answered with another score but failed to convert the 2-point conversion to make it 22-3. Those missed point-after-tries wound up being huge as the Ravens stormed the gates, scoring a pair of TDs and converting the 2-pt attempts on both to tie the game at 25-25. Colts’ kicker Rodrigo Blankenship missed the would-be game-winner at the end of regulation and the red-hot Baltimore offense won the coin toss and went 68-yards in 10-plays for the winning TD. It was a monumental collapse that may break the Colts, but credit to the Ravens for not giving up when a lot of teams would have. Jackson had a career day and made sure his name stays on people’s tongues in the MVP conversation.
On Sunday Night Football, Josh Allen made his case for MVP, and the Bills staked their claim as the team to beat in the AFC with a dominant 38-20 victory over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Kansas City has a ton of work to do and their divisional situation just got really difficult as the Chargers pulled off a miraculous comeback of their own against the Browns. Cleveland was up 27-13 after a TD to start the 3rd quarter but the Bolts found an extra gear and scored TDs on four consecutive possessions to close it out 47-42. I expected less scoring as both teams have strong defenses but they combined for 41-4th-quarter-points.
The Packers and the Bengals met up in Cincinnati with records of 3-1, and they looked pretty evenly matched as it came down to overtime. Both Mason Crosby (GB) and rookie Evan McPherson (CIN) exchanged a string of five-consecutive missed field goals that could have won the game before Crosby finally put it through in OT. The Bengals have come a long way since last season but the Packers don’t look like the team that went to the conference championship last season. It was the last game on the schedule between winning teams, but all the other NFC’s top dogs picked up wins.
The Cardinals picked up a hotly contested win over the 49ers to improve to 5-0 and remain atop the NFL as the league’s only unbeaten team. The Rams beat a desperate Seahawks team to get to 4-1. Dallas took care of business against the Giants to get to 4-1. And the Bucs won their interstate showdown with Miami to get to 4-1 as well. There are a lot of good teams in the NFC right now and it’ll be interesting to see how things shake out.
Desperation is a strong motivator and we saw a number of teams with their backs against the wall muster victories. The Falcons beat the Jets in the London game and I was too tired to switch my pick that early in the morning, but that’s twice that I let my personal dislike of Atlanta get in the way of my picks. The Steelers were maybe the most desperate after losing three in a row and they beat the Broncos 27-19, adding further evidence that the Broncos 3-0 start was due to playing the league’s three worst teams. Denver doesn’t suck, but there are levels to the game and Pittsburgh is more familiar with them. The Eagles also scraped themselves off the floor after being dominated in the first half by the Panthers and outscored Carolina 15-3 in the second half to win it 21-18. Last but not least, the Vikings picked up a 19-17 win over the Lions to keep their hopes afloat.
The Titans look like a shadow of the team that made it to the AFC championship a few years back but they still control the AFC South and handled the Jags 37-19. It was competitive until it wasn’t. Across the division, the Texans put up a valiant effort but ultimately fell to the Patriots on a last-second field goal, 25-22.
New Orleans wound up winning a pivotal road game against Washington 33-22, sparked by a Hail Mary TD at the end of the first half. The Saints are still very sketchy and alternate good and bad games, but this clarifies that the WFT defense is not good.
Finally, we come to the Raiders and the Bears. News broke on Monday that Raiders’ coach John Gruden would be resigning in connection with a history of emails where he used derogatory language for just about every group of people you can think of. On Sunday, the team was losing at home to a Chicago team with a rookie QB who barely breaks 100-yds passing. The Bears’ defense is still pretty good and has helped them get to 3-2.
It’s a short week for Tampa Bay and Philadelphia as the Bucs head to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Eagles for Thursday Night Football to start Week 6. Realistically, the Eags aren’t very good but they are better than the Dolphins (I think) and Miami was able to pose some early problems for the Bucs before the game got out of hand. Philly will be in desperation mode at home and their defensive front can be tough. I still expect the Bucs to win, but I’ll take a closer look when I do the Thursday preview.
Most of the good team won, so there wasn’t much change, but here are the Power Rankings:
| 1. Cardinals 5-0 (=) |
| 2. Bills 4-1 (=) |
| 3. Chargers 4-1 (=) |
| 4. Rams 4-1 (=) |
| 5. Buccaneers 4-1 (=) |
| 6. Cowboys 4-1 (=) |
| 7. Packers 4-1 (=) |
| 8. Ravens 4-1 (⬆10) |
| 9. Browns 3-2 (⬇8) |
| 10. Bengals 3-2 (⬆12) |
| 11. Titans 3-2 (⬆15) |
| 12. Saints 3-2 (⬆19) |
| 13. Bears 3-2 (⬆20) |
| 14. Raiders 3-2 (⬇9) |
| 15. Panthers 3-2 (⬇11) |
| 16. Broncos 3-2 (⬇13) |
| 17. Chiefs 2-3 (⬇14) |
| 18. Seahawks 2-3 (⬇16) |
| 19. 49ers 2-3 (⬇17) |
| 20. Vikings 2-3 (⬆21) |
| 21. Washington 2-3 (⬇18) |
| 22. Steelers 2-3 (=) |
| 23. Patriots 2-3 (⬆25) |
| 24. Eagles 2-3 (⬆26) |
| 25. Falcons 2-3 (⬆27) |
| 26. Colts 1-4 (⬇23) |
| 27. Dolphins 1-4 (⬇24) |
| 28. Giants 1-4 (=) |
| 29. Jets 1-4 (=) |
| 30. Texans 1-4 (=) |
| 31. Jaguars 0-5 (=) |
| 32. Lions 0-5 (=) |